Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3 -reviews-:

Toda la semana me han estado llegando resenas del nuevo disco de nortec. Afortunadamente todas muy buenas para el disco. Esta es una de las que mas me ha gustado, y es del San Diego Union Tribune:

Nortec Collective returns after a five-year lull (don't ask) with adventurous 'Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3'
By Hiram Soto
STAFF WRITER

July 21, 2005

There's one nagging question Nortec fans will have when they hear "Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3," the collective's long-awaited follow-up to their "Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1": What happened to Vol. 2?

Don't ask the guys. They don't want to talk about it. At least not to the media. But it has something to do with legal troubles with their former label, Palm Pictures, which never released the album.

Thus the five-year wait between volumes 1 and 3.

Some would say that during that time, the future came and went for Tijuana's innovative nortecos, who quickly awed music critics with their daring fusion of norte×a and electronic music and introspective observations of Tijuana. But if that was the case, then the future has been reclaimed.

"Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3" is just as witty and adventurous as the group's first record, with an even richer mix of such unlikely instruments as clarinets, tubas, synthesizers and organs. It's a dynamic album that features abstract songs, lounge beats and punchis punchis dance music.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALBUM REVIEW

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Nortec Collective
"Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3"
Nacional

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As with the "Tijuana Sessions Vol. 1," Bostich, the godfather of Nortec, starts the new album, displaying his more serious and mature sound using only a trumpet and synthesizers in a get-up-and-move track called "Tengo la voz."

A loner – he rarely pairs up with another member of the collective and often employs only one instrument aside from his synthesizers – Bostich, aka Ramon Amezcua, embodies the Nortec sound. It's especially true on the catchy "Tijuana Brass," a track that was featured in a remix version of the collective's 2002 limited-edition "Tijuana Beat Shop."

Fussible (Pepe Mogt), one of the better-known members of the collective, offers a balance to Bostich's traditional Nortec sound on the ridiculously corny "Tijuana Makes Me Happy," the album's first single. It's the most unlikely Nortec song, with a pop feel to it, and it borders on musical satire as accordions accentuate off-beats.

No norte×a album would be complete without a narco-corrido – thus Fussible's "Colorado," a loose interpretation of Los Tigres del Norte's "La banda del carro rojo," which chronicles the fatal story of drug traffickers on their way to Chicago.

Fussible's I-don't-take-myself-too-seriously attitude is matched by Hiperboreal's "Dandy del Sur." The DJ (sic), also known as Pedro Beas, was the owner of the now-defunct Don Loope electronic music venue in Tijuana. He closed the venue, he says, because he needed more time to write music.

Hiperboreal, whose musical vision make him perhaps the most ambitious member of the collective, offers three sharp and versatile songs. On "Don Loope," for example, he uses accordions, clarinets, charchetas, percussion, trumpets, trombone, tuba and vocals. The mix is unmistakably Nortec.

Also displaying remarkable musicianship is Clorofila (Jorge Verdin), who features stellar wind-instrument solos on his tracks that often border on lounge and jazz. Panoptica, or Roberto Mendoza, also comes off strong with "Revu Rockers."

Like norte×a music, Nortec music is an acquired taste. For those who are not familiar with the polka sounds of norte×a, Nortec might not be love at first listen. The changes of tempo might even sound uneven at times, but the Nortec Collective brings a new perspective to the world of electronic music, which is even more refreshing when you think it was inspired by life on the border.